The debate raged for two hours. Technical jargon, legal loopholes, and aggressive questioning flew across the room. I stayed silent, watching the clock. I was waiting for the "Seven Stars" to finish their part of the plan.
Suddenly, my tablet vibrated. A message from Su Lan: The 'Ghost Archive' is live. Send the link.
"Directors," I said, my voice cutting through the lawyer's shouting. "You're looking at the wrong data. You're looking at the version Ying Yue modified. If you want the truth, look at the 'Ghost Archive'—the hidden backup Li Yan and I created during our middle school competitions."
I swiped my hand across the tablet, projecting a new set of code onto the wall.
"Every programmer has a 'signature,'" I explained, walking toward the holographic display. "A way they nest their loops, a specific way they name their variables. If you look at line 1,024 of the original code, there is a hidden comment in the hex-code."
The Head Director leaned forward. "What does it say?"
I looked at Li Yan. He was staring at the screen, a small smile finally tugging at his lips.
"It's a coordinate," I said. "The exact location of the boba shop where we studied for our Board Exams. And the password to unlock the core logic isn't a string of numbers. It's '98.2'."
The room went silent as the Director typed the numbers. The code bloomed, turning from red to a brilliant, victorious blue. A timestamp appeared: Three years before Ying Yue ever joined the Institute.
"Checkmate," Li Yan whispered, loud enough for only me to hear.